Itsuki Asagi: 1-D"O-oh..." She paused for a moment, blushing darkly before thinking about the answer to the question. it wasn't so much that she didn't know what to say, it was more of the phrasing that was giving her troubles at the moment. "Well, my mom and I decided to move with him when my dad was given a promotion at work instead of making him travel so much." She shrugged. "I was kind of relieved to go someplace new." She gave him a little shrug and a smile. Her family wasn't the closest, they just made the 'right' decisions. And by 'right', I mean, what society would expect of a affluent family.

She pushed a loose strand of hair behind her left ear and pulled out the stick of chapstick, applied it and looked like she was thinking. "I'm sorry to be asking so many questions...I'm just curious. If you don't mind..." She paused a moment, not wanting to overwhelm the foreigner with all of these questions. She was very tentative with new friendships, she didn't want to scare people off, even though it wound up happening all the time anyways. "Do you like to run?" She looked over his body quickly, but not in an 'I'm checking you out relentlessly' manner, but more of a 'I am seeing your level of athletic activity', kind of deal. And then she blushed slightly, realizing that she had basically checked him out, because you can't completely separate the two kinds of looks easily.

He nodded to her response, it was similar to him. "Well, that's sorta similar to me, only my family followed my dad here from Canada," he gave a chuckle, running a hand through his hair. He missed things from home. He still though of Canada as home, not Japan. He didn't know if he would ever be able to consider Japan home. "I don't mind questions, don't worry about it." he replied, waving his hand and leaning back. He wasn't surprised at the question too much, but the sweeping glance she gave him took him a back. Where was the typical Japanese shyness? But he was glad for a bit of forwardness. He grinned. "I don't really like running by itself. I play soccer though, when I can. Mostly just pick up games. I haven't joined a league yet or anything," he explained Why?" he queried. His face was perfectly blasé, not betraying anything other than genuine curiosity. Inside however he was grinning, he was baiting her, seeing how forward she would be, he had noticed her blush, without reacting.

"Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits."

"You need not worry about that, so long as our teacher remembers, you could be the only guy in class and you'd still be in that club. It's somewhat less optional than other clubs." Enjou continued on, taking care of Karasu's concerns regarding the club. When Yo spoke Enjou glanced in his direction recalling the conversation from the other day. He himself wasn't sure why he'd tried to provoke the other boy with such in such an unusual manner but he was still disappointed it'd had borne no fruit. However there was nothing to gain by dragging that back up so he left it lie returning his gaze back to Karasu.

He envied Yo for how easily he entered the conversation. Never mind the fact that it was merely to defend himself. If somewhat weakly.

"I could tell you about the mansion ." The words left his mouth before he realized it. Normally butting into other persons' conversations were a big no no. It was something that was a bit of an observational taboo if you would. As if ease dropping wasn't bad enough, interrupting people as they talked was worse. For him it was difficult anyway to invite himself to any conversation anyway so all he ended up doing was sitting an listening in silence anyway. Despite desperately wanted to enter the conversation before he knew what he had done wasn't something that was socially acceptable.

"I mean if you would like..." He paused and hesitated feeling somewhat awkward about just barging in to thier conversation. "Ah sorry for butting in." He apologized.

There were exactly seventy-eight steps between the main floor and class 1-D. Dej had to climb these stairs three times a day with a heavy bag ever since school had started. Dej had the lungs of a fourty year old pack-a-day smoker. Dej hated stairs. And huffing as usual, Dej mounted the last step, not in the least proud of the accomplishment. The wheezing teen was greeted by a sound much akin to cracking walnuts on the other side of the sliding door. Opening it, Dej let out an "Ah..." of surprised comprehension as he realized their teacher was in a foul humor. Quietly slipping past her and the ever unsettling Yo Dej collapsed into a desk in the middle of the classroom, where he usually sat, and today where a nearby conversation with two new students he hadn't noticed were taking part in.

The turnover rate of this class was truely remarkable, thought Dej as he scanned the empty seats. Nearly half the class had left 1-D in the few weeks since school had started. He could hardly blame them, considering what they had all been through. Not everyone could stomach the kind of things they saw on a daily basis. Ikuto had left for different reasons, and a quick sweep of the classroom told him that the cowbow probably wouldn't be returning as well. On the flip side, thought Dej, the schoolwork was pretty light, and they got a lot of time away from class. How Kaneda kept her job he would never know, maybe, he thought as he eyed the quiet woman in the corner, she'd finally been found out.

"Hmm..." the tired Dej grumbled as he sunk into his chair, staring appraisingly at the two new students. He wondedered how long their exciting classroom conditions would continue.

"Soccer?" She gave him a smile as she saw him look much happier talking about that. Truthfully, she loved to run, so playing sports that involved running was fun too, just not quite as much fun. When he asked her why she had asked the question about running, she chuckled, and looked a little abashed, as if only now realizing that she had been overly forward. "Well, I love running, but most people don't like to run, so finding a running partner is kind of difficult." She left out the fact that she usually was a long-distance runner that could out-run most people, even those conditioned to long-distance running like she was. She bit her lip a bit, and said, "But I'm sure that you'll be able to find a good league team thing to join." She meant well, she just didn't know a lot about organized sports, since all she's ever done is run. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear before biting her lips gently while waiting for a response.

The morning air seemed unusually cold as Yasu awoke from her slumber that morning. Her hand reached out from the mountain of comforters and blankets and pillows that suffocated her, fumbling at the bedside desk that her glasses rested upon. She slid the lenses over her nose and blinked, wriggling out of her bed cover cocoon, then stretched her arms into the air. With a sniff, she turned to the fluttering lavender lace curtains by her window. Open. No wonder it was cold. Yasu rubbed her eyes. There was a strange dark stain by the window ledge. Fingerprints...but the way they were placed made it seem like the hand that tarnished the white painted wood was facing inwards, towards the room.

Someone had broken into her room.

Yasu bit her bottom lip. This was the third time this week. She had told her parents, who had checked the room thoroughly, and assured her there was nothing wrong. She had, of course, checked her room herself as well, but she found nothing missing or out of place. It was peculiar that nothing was stolen. It was even more peculiar that these strange marks on the window ledge were the only evidence of these break-ins. The girl shook her head. Was it really just her? Was she just mistaking some wild animal's footprints as fingerprints? What more, the stains were small, as if the hand that made them were small and feminine. Yasu looked at her own hands, her own small and feminine hands. This was too bizarre...

She shook her head and plucked several medications from a carefully organized line of pill bottles. These things were the only means to finding solace in the storm of her mind, especially with all the recent events at her own school. To think, all that happened so far...but there was certainly more to come.

She swallowed the pills and headed to the washroom.

-Room 1-D-

Arriving later than her usual an-hour-before-class punctuality, the enthusiastic schoolgirl had shown up only slightly early today. Yasu's eyes widened as they discovered a familiar face standing within the mass of desks and chairs and students, chatting away with Steve and a few others. "Hey, aren't you that girl from the amusement park?"

Greetings, my name is... No that was too formal. What's up kids! ... would be a stupid thing to say.

Children were always hard for her to deal with. Adults, she could understand, anticipate. Society had spent decades getting to them, imprinting all sorts of rules of conduct and manners that made talking to them a rote affair. But children... with their... slang and new-ageness. It was like children and adults were taken from different worlds, the woman never understood how one ended up turning into the other.

Her childhood began when she was twenty-five. If there ever was a time when she resembled these miniature beings, she did not remember it. And even if she did, the time separating them would stretch across dimensions, there could be no such connection between them. It was hopeless to attempt something on these student's level.

She sighed inwardly, all-too successful at depressing herself. It was this debilitating pessimism that allowed the austere woman to tune out the sandpaper-on-sandpaper action going on in Kaneda's mouth. It was only when Kaneda shouted...

-Room 1-D- Great Teacher Kaneda

"Since our guest" The word said with as much hate as our hearing range can understand and more, "seems so reluctant to introduce herself. I'LL DO IT FOR HER: Sumako Matsui~! Vampire extraordinaire! Without any tasers this time!"

-Room 1-D- How's it Hanging Matsui?

NO TIME TO THINK, MUST DO SOMETHING COOL.

"Yo dawgs! I'm here to wisen y'all up to the new blood in town. V to the ampires, Vampires! Us and the WHO gots a truce. So now we're on a peacekeeping mission of peace, for reals!"

As Matsui turned to say this, hands thrown up in gang signs from nowhere, it was immediately clear why the WHO was willing to let a vampire run out and about.

Class 1-D could make out her eyes and that was about it. Almond-shaped and set to a permanent worry line, she seemed truly upset for whatever reason. Perhaps it was because of the thing on her face.

Stamped with the WHO seal of approval, the lower half of a mask was clamped over the woman's mouth a la Hannibal Lecter except this one was made of matte black steel. Black enough that the bindings blended in with the woman's hair. The solid metal had opening just where her mouth was, but black steel fibers crisscrossed so tightly in front, her mouth resembled a stereo system.

She could breathe, she could talk, she could do all the peacekeeping, culture-spreading, goodwill missioneering she wanted, but there was no way in hell she was going to be biting.

With Kaneda coming to life for the second time to introduce the woman who'd join them today things finally started to make sense or not. First of all why was Kaneda pissed off today if it wasn't this woman? Not that there was time to inquire as almost immediately this woman started... speaking. Enjou froze up while she talked, he was oddball himself but this was just something beyond even him. After a moment to recover from the... psychological attack, Enjou could study the woman and analyze what exactly she was trying to convey.

The mask the woman was wearing had an obvious purpose though if not for this classes experiences one might think it to be just part of illusion. Of course Enjou wondered if it could stand up to bolt cutters but that was just part of his strange chain of thinking. He'd finally arrived at what he wanted to ask the woman first. "If you already have a truce isn't it a bit late to try and keep the peace? Rather I should ask who are you keeping the peace with? I don't think we were ever took a side of the conflict."

"Heh, thanks." Steve replied to Itsuki chuckling shyly and smiling, as he looking down. Compliments made him feel awkward, he didn't really know how to accept them. Suddenly the new adult spokeSteve's face had a stunned expression and his eyebrow was cocked. Had she just called them 'dawgs'? He'd thought he'd escaped that when he left North America. Then Enjou spoke up, Steve nodded in agreement.

"Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits."

"Jiang shi?!", Karasu accidentally said the words in Chinese to himself in surprise when the woman had introduced herself as Sumako Matsui. A real living vampire, with an iron mask clamped onto her face to boot. Luckily for him, the words had come out in a whisper and went unnoticed by his classmates.

"Yo dawgs! I'm here to wisen y'all up to the new blood in town. V to the ampires, Vampires! Us and the WHO gots a truce. So now we're on a peacekeeping mission of peace, for reals!"

Wait, what.

Karasu was certainly puzzled on whether this was certainly a vampire standing in front of him. He had imagined something much more...vampiric underneath that mask. Certainly, he had thought about them being as normal as humans in terms of behavior. But this woman, really went past the border of imagination. Then again, he felt interested and compelled to learn more about the woman.

"If you already have a truce isn't it a bit late to try and keep the peace? Rather I should ask who are you keeping the peace with? I don't think we were ever took a side of the conflict."

"I must agree with Hiyama-san on this. From what I know, it seems you are only keeping peace with only one party instead of both", Karasu said in a nonchalant manner. It wasn't him to have himself get involved in debates or arguments but his curiosity was slowly pushing him to talk more and tempting him to want to find out more about this new world he had just suddenly stepped into.

Steve's response, she decided, was adorable, and before she could continue this thought, she was in for a shocker. She just stared at the woman with no social graces, her mouth slightly parted and her eyes stuck on the woman. She was forced into a social shock coma temporarily. It was that bad. Shaking her head a bit to clear it, she looked at the woman a bit closer to notice that she was just nervous. That had to be why she was so...socially inept. Looking at the other students, as if asking if this woman was for real, she licked her lips before remembering that this woman was a vampire. Taking more time to notice the thing covering her mouth, to her morbid curiosity, she refrained from asking if it chafed.

She listened to the student's legitimate arguments, and waited for a response before she would even think of putting her two cents out there. She wanted to see what was going to happen, a testing of the waters, or so you could call it.

Dej's slightly agape mouth seemed to be the only thing that was working at the moment, his mind instantly blanked by the absurdity displayed by the woman at the front of the class. Class 1-D's faint sounds of surprise gave way to a heavy awkward silence.

Once Dej had regained his wits, the questions came. Why would WHO send a vampire, restrained or not, into a school? Why was Kaneda mad about it? Where was Ikuto and the rest of their classmates? What could she possibly tell them? The last question he mumbled aloud, leaning closer to Enjou and the others:

Matsui was not stupid. She could tell when something was not going her way. The children were obviously not impressed by her lingo. If anything they seemed horrified by it. So her hands melted away from the gang signs and she pulled herself up into a more dignified pose, arched back and hands grasping elbows behind herself. It did not look very comfortable to stand that way, it was rigid all around and she carried a sort-of pained expression on her face.

"On the contrary, every person's opinion concerning us is vital to our mission. The cure can only be found if humans and vampires work together. The WHO has been convinced if not to help us, at least to stand by and allow us to ask others. We are already in negotiation with several governments, but they are reluctant for a variety of reasons. One, they still deny our existence, two, they do not want to associated with my kind and three, certain parts of our research requires... volunteers."

Matsui's feet shifted as she finished explaining, but her hands were firmly behind her back. Always the most awkward part during these sessions. She didn't know why they sent her out to do this kind of stuff. It was probably the worst job around and they gave it to her! What did she do to deserve this endless barrage of unbearable silences?

"Sooo... for now... we're not going to try and rush anything. I'd just like to introduce myself and tell you all, that yes I am a real vampire." She paused and there was an attempt of a smile beneath the mask. "And no, we don't bite. We'd just like your support."

Being a sensitive girl, she noticed Matsui's half-pained look. Mostly because she wore one often enough herself when her out-going nature rubbed traditional people the wrong way one too many times. "Volunteers, you say?" She was instantly curious at this point, and was about to ask more, before Matsui made herself into a jittery mess. She was oddly intrigued. Well, not oddly for her, but oddly for a normal person. "What would those volunteers be volunteering for, exactly. You can't expect people to volunteer for something or even think about an offer if they don't know what's offered." She twirled a strand of hair between thumb and forefinger while looking at Matsui with her bright blue eyes, a slight twinkle in them.

She felt a little bad about that stuffy face mask, and wanted to also ask about it and if it was really uncomfortable, but figured that it wouldn't be wise to overwhelm the woman/vampire, especially in this setting. She didn't notice anyone else's reactions, because she was so inquisitive as to what the answer to her question would be, that and any guest speaker deserves some level of respect. She instantly wished that she had some gum, her ADD was starting to kick in as she noted the minute details of the mask and of Matsui's person. She felt bad for the reaction that she had gotten at first, but there's nothing you can do about a first impression, except to make alterations once you know better.

"The new girl makes a valid point, you're rather vague on that matter." Enjou watched the vampire's movements, the woman seemed nervous to him though he couldn't figure out about what. Perhaps he was just being overly cautious and the was merely feeling off after her first introduction failed. Either way it was still probably safer to remain skeptical about the woman's story. As for the part about the vampires not biting it seemed more that, at least in this one's case, they couldn't rather than wouldn't. "I mean if you want cheerleaders then I don't think I would look good in a skirt and if you want guinea pigs then I'm even less inclined to help you."

Matsui knew she had failed at that very instant. Her superiors would be upset, she was sure. Not that it wasn't bound to happen, Matsui took a breath and barely held back the sigh. Oh well, might as well get it over with. The kids were already immensely suspicious and for good reason, nothing she could do about that.

"We need help promoting our cause, getting our message to our congressman to help put forward bills to certify Vampire Rights. As it stands we're on the same level as farm animals in the eyes of many a world government. There's a lot of campaigning to be done that we alone cannot do. And...

"Blood," Matsui finally said, her face tight, "We need blood. For most vampires these days, blood is only an addiction, it's not necessary to their survival at all. But other vampires, the old ones, we need blood. Human blood. The Red Cross, the WHO refuse to help us in that regard and the last thing we want to do is to take it forcefully. So we're down to asking for help."

"So do you want to open up a blood bank or what? You're asking us to donate blood right?"Steve queried. Arm over the back of his chair. Vampires didn't really seem so bad, I mean apparently they just needed a bit of help and they could be normal members of society. Steve was mulling it over in his head. He didn't like needles, but he might consider giving blood.

"Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits."

As Steve finished his part of talking, Karasu stretched himself in his seat and thought of something interesting from what he had heard up till now.

"If what you say is true and if blood is only an addiction to these old vampires, would it not make more sense to cure them of the addiction instead of fueling it? I understand why vampires would want to be considered as a race instead of beasts but the blood issue is probably raising many red flags amongst the higher-ups, no?", the boy had said it all with a blank face, as if it wasn't as shocking as it seemed to everyone else that they were talking to a real blood-sucking mythical hunter of the night.

After a few minutes of silence settled in, the boy raised another question, one that would probably make the woman before them explain everything to them until it was crystal clear in their minds.

"Also, if I'm not too rude for asking. Why come to us? We're only students after all. Surely, there are better alternatives than us"

"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean by older vampires?" Enjou inquired, something about the way that was phrased didn't sit right with what he'd learned up until now. "You make it sound as though there are those who are not merely addicted to blood, as though it was necessity rather than a physical dependence. While I can believe in an ingrained yearning for a thing, in this case blood, I've yet to hear anything that supports an actual biological necessity other than myth." Indeed in the conversation with Ikuto it had been more or less insisted that nothing of the sort was real. Never the less, what anyone reasonable would have guessed was in fact reason this woman had come to day; blood.

"As far as actually obtaining blood, it does not benefit me to help you does it? While it's certain that we are to a certain extent already involved, it doesn't seem as though the WHO would allow you to force us to help. With that in mind we have no reason to help other than generosity no?"

Not that she wasn't expecting it, but it fell hard on her shoulders all the same.

She should respond, she knew, but the muzzle on her face felt more restricting by the second. They would never understand.

And somehow, she answered, if only because she knew it was her job. "We'd appreciate any donations - from anyone, students or elderly - but that's all it is. Just having your support is enough. But yes, older vampires actually need that sort of sustenance to survive."

Matsui turned to look at Enjou and gave him a wilting smile, "You honestly thought that we had any other method in mind?" She shook her head, "We're not as bad as all those movies make us out to be."

Nearly none of the students responded to the masked woman. In so many words, she had asked them all for blood. People donated blood every day. It was simple request. . . For most.

Dej looked away, chewing his lip. There was something he had to ask. If she was a vampire, she had to know something. "What about the older vampires? He asked, "What about tsavijis?" His tone was steady, even. As if he contemplated each of the words as he slowly looked up from his clasped hands at Matsui. Hopefully this woman would have an answer for him.